[Grovenet] Genesis 4:9

[Steven]

You're right on many of the comments Walt, except for the precious metals.
Our gold intake is/was less than many other countries.
I'm a fan of the charitable trusts. For the person donating the money, it
guarantees a pension for the rest of their lives. The tax savings equate to
what is donated. Basically, you get to decide on where your tax dollars will
go.
The hard part is you have to be over sixty, since the stipend is only for 20
years.
Almost every large corporation or business ends up with a foundation.
Without capitalism, none of this would exist. But then again, without our
complex tax codes, this might not need to be in existence. Wouldn't it be
great to imagine rich folks donating to charity because they want to instead
of for a tax break?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com]On
> Behalf Of Walt Wentz
> Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2008 9:43 AM
> To: Forest Grove local interests list
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Genesis 4:9
>
>
>
> Wotwotwotwot wot???
> There was NO physical wealth in the New World until "Captialism"
> created it? No rich lands? No abundant natural products? No precious
> metals? No nuttin'?
> I wonder if the pundit of capitalism is talking about the same New
> World as we live in.
> The earliest Europeans to take advantage of that nonexistent wealth
> were probably the Portuguese and British fishermen who pursued the
> huge codfish schools of the waters off North America, in the years
> before Columbus arrived. Such near-unlimited amounts of food
> constituted enormous wealth. Consequently, those vast schools are
> long gone.
> Once the European settlers settled in, Tobacco (which exhausted the
> soil of entire counties) was shipped to the Old World in enormous
> quantities, generating more fortunes. After the American Revolution,
> the huge whale fisheries of New England also generated more huge
> fortunes--while helping drive the whales to near-extinction.
> The great pine woods of Michigan, and the vast cypress swamps of the
> south, generated enormous wealth-- while they lasted. Those forests,
> a resource once touted to "last forever," are long gone now.
>   (I'm not counting the few Icelanders and Greenlanders who harvested
> American timber shortly after 1000 AD. Theirs was a negligible take;
> their real trade with Europe came from fish, hides and ivory
> harvested in their REALLY barren islands).
> Then there was the movement west. Once the pesky Indians had been
> removed, via the Trail of Tears, European diseases or a judicious
> application of gunpowder, enormous fortunes were made in cattle and
> grain on the newly-opened lands. Thanks to our abundant>